SynthesisInternational journal of environmental research and public health2022
The Effectiveness of E-Health Interventions Promoting Physical Activity and Reducing Sedentary Behavior in College Students: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.
Synthesis in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effect of Digital Health Interventions on College Students' Lifestyle Behaviors: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- Physical activity measurement tools among college students in intervention studies: A systematic review.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- Behavior Change Techniques Used in Self-Management Interventions Based on mHealth Apps for Adults With Hypertension: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Pooled it
- The effectiveness of E-health interventions promoting physical activity in cancer survivors: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology · 2024Pooled it
- Digital communication tools used to promote healthy lifestyles: an overview of reviews from the BRIDGE project.Frontiers in digital health · 2026Review
- The relationship between weight stigma and physical activity avoidance among college students: a chain mediation of body image and psychological resilience.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Article
- Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour and Mental Health in University Students: A Compositional Isotemporal Substitution Analysis.Depression and anxiety · 2026Article
- The past, present and future use of technology-enabled physical activity interventions in clinical and non-clinical populations: a bibliometric trend analysis across four decades.Frontiers in digital health · 2026Review
- Replacing sedentary behavior with physical activity reduces symptoms of anxiety and depression: a study with young adults.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Social marketing targeting healthy eating and physical activity in young adult university students: A scoping review.Heliyon · 2024Article
- Effective management of sedentary behavior among Indian university students: An empirical exploration into health-related behavior.Journal of education and health promotion · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Insufficient physical activity (PA) and excessive sedentary behavior (SB) are detrimental to physical and mental health. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to identify whether e-health interventions are effective for improving PA and SB in college students. Five electronic databases, including Medline, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, and ProQuest, were searched to collect relevant randomized controlled trials up to 22 June 2022. In total, 22 trials (including 31 effects) with 8333 samples were included in this meta-analysis. The results showed that e-health interventions significantly improved PA at post-intervention (SMD = 0.32, 95% CI: 0.19, 0.45, p < 0.001) compared with the control group, especially for total PA (SMD = 0.34, 95% CI: 0.10, 0.58, p = 0.005), moderate to vigorous PA (SMD = 0.17, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.32, p = 0.036), and steps (SMD = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.23, 1.28, p < 0.001. There were no significant effects for both PA at follow-up (SMD = 0.24, 95% CI: − 0.01, 0.49, p = 0.057) and SB (MD = −29.11, 95% CI: −70.55, 12.32, p = 0.17). The findings of subgroup analyses indicated that compared to the control group, interventions in the group of general participants (SMD = 0.45, 95% CI: 0.27, 0.63, p < 0.001), smartphone apps (SMD = 0.46, 95% CI: 0.19, 0.73, p = 0.001), and online (SMD = 0.23, 95% CI: 0.04, 0.43, p < 0.001) can significantly improve PA at post-intervention. Moreover, the intervention effects were significant across all groups of theory, region, instrument, duration, and female ratio. At follow-up, interventions in groups of developing region (SMD = 1.17, 95% CI: 0.73, 1.62, p < 0.001), objective instrument (SMD = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.23, 1.42, p = 0.007), duration ≤ 3-month (SMD = 1.06, 95% CI: 0.72, 1.39, p < 0.001), and all female (SMD = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.02, 1.56, p = 0.044) can significantly improve PA. The evidence of this meta-analysis shows that e-health interventions can be taken as promising strategies for promoting PA. The maintenance of PA improvement and the effect of interventions in reducing SB remain to be further studied. Educators and health practitioners should focus on creating multiple e-health interventions with individualized components.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.